The Iconocast (Iconocast)
In episode 75 of the Iconocast, Joanna and Mark Van Steenwyk, co-founder of the Iconocast, take a trip down memory lane. They discuss what motivated them to start the podcast and how their thinking has changed since then. They wrestle with moving beyond an apologetic Christian witness to one that seeks connection with the subversive spirit of God. 

Mark Van Steenwyk is the Executive Director at the Center for Prophetic Imagination. Mark is a writer, teacher, organizer, and spiritual director. For nearly 15 years, Mark has sown seeds of subversive spirituality throughout North America. He co-founded the Mennonite Worker in Minneapolis in 2004 with his wife Amy. Mark is the author of That Holy AnarchistThe unKingdom of God, and A Wolf at the Gate.  

Direct download: I_75_Mark_Van_Steenwyk.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 1:56pm CDT

In this episode of the Iconocast Joanna interviews L. M. Bogad. L. M. Bogad is an author, performance artist/activist, professor of political performance at UC Davis, Director of the Center for Tactical Performance, and co-founder of the Clown Army.  He has performed across the USA, Europe and South America, including occupied zones and a squatted military base in Barcelona.  

Bogad’s first book, Electoral Guerrilla Theatre: Radical Ridicule and Social Movements, analyzes the international campaigns of performance artists who run for public office as a radical prank. His new book, Tactical Performance: On the Theory and Practice of Serious Play, analyzes and critiques the use of guerrilla theatre/art for human/civil rights, social justice, labor and environmental campaigns.  

Bogad’s performances have covered topics such as the Egyptian revolution, the Haymarket Square Riot, the Spanish Civil War, the FBI's COINTELPRO activities, and the Pinochet coup in Chile. His ECONOMUSIC: Keeping Score, has been performed at festivals in Helsinki, São Paulo, Buenos Aires, Santiago, San Francisco, and Barcelona.  His play, COINTELSHOW: A Patriot Act was recently performed at the San Francisco Mime Troupe’s Studio, in New Orleans, and in Mexico City.

Bogad has led Tactical Performance workshops, helping activists create performative, nonviolent images to contest and critique power, in Cairo, Barcelona, Riga, Helsinki, Buenos Aires, Trondheim, and across the United States.

Direct download: I47_L.M._Bogad.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 12:24pm CDT

In episode 73 of the Iconocast Joanna interviews David Brazil and Sarah Pritchard. Together they discuss Christian discipleship founded on hospitality, in-depth bible study and the dismantling of capitalism.

Sarah Pritchard is an experimental dancer and choreographer, a third generation preacher, founding member of SALTA dance collective, improvisational cook in the kitchen and cat co-parent to Alvin and Isadora.

David Brazil is a pastor and translator. His third book of poetry, Holy Ghost (City Lights, 2017) was a finalist for the California Book Award.

Sarah and David co-pastor the Agape Fellowship, in Oakland, California. Agape Fellowship is a Christian-interfaith community church and 'spiritual safe space' dedicated to building the spiritual foundations of liberation movements for our generation.

Direct download: i73_David_Brazil__Sarah_Pritchard.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 4:15pm CDT

In part two of her interview with Chude Allen, Joanna and Chude talk about her awakening to class consciousness, her organizing within the women's liberation movement and her thoughts on our political moment today. 

Chude is a member of the Bay Area Veterans of the Civil Rights Movement. In 1964 Chude participated in the student movement in Atlanta, Georgia while a white exchange student at Spelman, a historically black college. After leaving the South, Chude was an organizer of the Women’s Liberation Movement, first in New York City and then in San Francisco. She is author of the 1970 classic, Free Space, A Perspective on the Small Group in Women’s Liberation. In the mid-seventies she joined Union Women’s Alliance to Gain Equality and became editor of their newspaper, UNION WAGE. She is featured in the film, She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry.
Direct download: i72_Chude_Allen_pt2.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 11:52am CDT

Chude Pam Allen is a member of the Bay Area Veterans of the Civil Rights Movement. She coordinates speakers for schools and community groups and has spoken widely about her own experiences. Her writings can be found on their website, www.crmvet.org, which is considered by many veterans to be the best source for information on the Southern Freedom Movement.

In 1964 Chude participated in the student movement in Atlanta, Georgia while a white exchange student at Spelman, a historically black college. That summer she was a freedom school teacher in Holly Springs, Mississippi. She is featured in Doug McAdam’s book, Freedom Summer and in the award winning film, Freedom on My Mind.

After leaving the South, Chude was an organizer of the Women’s Liberation Movement, first in New York City and then in San Francisco. She taught anti-racism workshops for both women’s liberation groups and the YWCA. She is author of the 1970 classic, Free Space, A Perspective on the Small Group in Women’s Liberation and wrote the chapter on woman suffrage for the book, Reluctant Reformers: Racism and Social Reform Movements in the United States. In the mid-seventies she joined Union Women’s Alliance to Gain Equality and became editor of their newspaper, UNION WAGE. She is featured in the film, She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry.

Direct download: i71_chude_allen_pt12.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 1:20pm CDT

In episode 70 Joanna interviews Beth Roy. Beth Roy was born into a Jewish family and raised in Texas where she attended a segregated high school at the time that the Supreme Court decided Brown v. Board of Education. Nurtured by parents committed to racial equality, she has built a life with a quest for justice at its center. She is an author, educator, therapist and restorative justice practitioner. She was part of founding the Practitioners Research and Scholarship Institute, a dynamically diverse group promoting writing and relationships among oft-marginalized people. In 2008, the project published its first anthology, Re-Centering Culture and Knowledge in Conflict Resolution Practice. She resides in San Francisco with her partner and two playful dogs.

Direct download: i70_beth_roy.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 10:18am CDT

In episode 69, recorded in the fall of 2017, Joanna interviews Carol Lee and Sarah Lee.

Carol is second generation Chinese American of Toi San background. Carol works with PICO California growing faith communities’ institutional capacity for long-term justice work in Oakland, California. Their program creates accessible on ramps to uncover the root causes of injustice in housing, policing, and immigration policy, while cultivating communal spaces to creatively, seriously, and maximally steward their communities' power and resources for collective liberation.

Sarah is a second generation Chinese American of Hokshan and En Ping descent. Sarah works as a Sanctuary Organizer with Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity, developing networks of community safety for immigrants through congregations and immigrant justice coalitions. Her specific focus has been uplifting the stories of formerly incarcerated immigrants and those most in danger of deportation through a project called Migrants in the Pulpit.


In 2017 they created the “Reading is Resistance” Readathon for people of Asian and Pacific Islander descent. The commitments of the readathon included: to speak and act from a deep foundation of the historical work for liberation, to imagine and create a more loving and just world, to resist cultural amnesia by reading and sharing knowledge, and to support organizations doing critical work.

Direct download: i69_carol_and_sara_lee.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 12:42pm CDT

In episode 68 Joanna interviews David Solnit. David is an organizer, writer and puppeteer. His activism began in high school with draft resistance organizing and hasn’t stopped since. He was part of shutting down the WTO in Seattle in 1999 and in San Francisco the day after Iraq was invaded in 2003. This past year he spent time at Standing Rock, creating art and telling the story of that struggle, as well as helped to organize art at the People’s Climate March in Washington DC in April. He currently works with 350.org as the North American Arts Organizer. 

In the San Francisco Bay Area he organizes with anti-corporate capitalist, climate justice, anti-war, human rights, and environmental justice groups. He is editor of Globalize Liberation: How to Uproot the System and Build a Better World and with his sister, Rebecca Solnit, he co-wrote The Battle of the Story of the Battle of Seattle.

Direct download: i_68_david_solnit.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 1:23pm CDT

In this episode, recorded at the Kinsler Bartimaeus Institute in February of 2017, Elaine Enns and Ched Myers reflect on the fragmentation of movements for justice since the Beyond Vietnam speech. Ched shares about the disillusionment following the 60s when justice-minded people broke into niches, focusing on one issue to the exclusion of the rest. Elaine offers the wisdom of Audre Lorde who challenged people to "do their own work" and recognize that our very bodies are intersectional and therefore our movements must be as well.

Elaine Enns and Ched Myers are co-directors of Bartimaeus Cooperative Ministries. Elaine recently completed a doctorate of ministry on historical responsibility and intergenerational trauma among Canadian Prairie Settler Mennonites and their relationship with Indigenous neighbors. Ched Myers has authored many books, including Binding the Strong Man and Say to This Mountain. Together Ched and Elaine reside in the Ventura River Watershed.


Opening song by Joshua Grace, with Charletta Erb on violin.

Direct download: i_67_Audre_Lourde_.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 11:51am CDT

In this episode, recorded at the Kinsler Bartimaeus Institute in February of 2017, Elaine Enns, Ched Myers and Joanna Shenk offer input on the history of enslavement, the eras of reconstruction and the drafting of the Beyond Vietnam speech that Dr. King delivered on April 4, 1967, one year before he was assassinated.

Many people in movement communities are familiar with the Beyond Vietnam speech, but few know about the man who drafted it, Dr. Vincent Harding. Elaine and Ched offer analysis of the history of movements for justice in the United States, encouraging us to neither overplay our current political reality or underplay the obstacles and oppression of the past. Joanna shares from her personal relationship with Dr. Vincent Harding and from his own words describing the experience of drafting the Beyond Vietnam speech and what it means for us today.


Elaine Enns and Ched Myers are co-directors of Bartimaeus Cooperative Ministries. Elaine recently completed a doctorate of ministry on historical responsibility and intergenerational trauma among Canadian Prairie Settler Mennonites and their relationship with Indigenous neighbors. Ched Myers has authored Binding the Strong Man and Say to This Mountain. Together Ched and Elaine reside in the Ventura River Watershed.

Direct download: i_66_Dr._Harding_Plenary.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 9:02pm CDT

This special episode of Iconocast Canvas features live performances from Standing with Standing Rock: A Benefit Event, which took place November 12, 2016. The fundraiser, which was emceed by Canvas hosts Nekeisha and Seth, brought together musicians, dancers and artists to support water protectors resisting the Dakota Access Pipeline in Cannonball, North Dakota. All of the proceeds, more than $2,500, went to the Standing Rock legal defense fund. The event, which took place at Fellowship of Hope Mennonite Church in Elkhart, Indiana, was co-organized by students of Goshen College’s EcoPax Club and Students for Social Reform Clubs, and by Iconocast Canvas. Read a full report back on the benefit here

Intro music: “FHH 12” by FREE Hip Hop Music on Soundcloud

Performers and speakers (in order of appearance)

  • Group song: Mimi Salvador Lucero
  • Song: Nayo Ulloa
  • Q&A: Mechelle Sky Walker, Water protector of the Omaha tribe from the Buffalo Clan residing in territory known as Lincoln, Nebraska. Facilitator: Mimi Salvador Lucero
  • Spoken word: Antonius Northern
  • Spoken word: Mimi Salvador Lucero
  • Song: Nekeisha Alayna Alexis
  • Song: Nayla Jimenez
  • Rap: Abe Medellin
  • Speakers: Cecilia Lapp Stoltzfus, Katerina Friesen and Jimmy Betts
  • Song: Seth Martin (singer) and Evra Tshisola (bass)
  • Group song: Led by Nicole Bauman and Jason Shenk. Written by Keisha Soleil.

Credits
Organizers (alphabetical order): Nekeisha Alayna Alexis, Naomi Gross, Cecilia Lapp Stoltzfus, Mimi Salvador Lucero, Seth Martin, Chelsea Risser and Hannah Yoder. Dancers: Phil Chan and Nimoy Vaidya. Rockport campaign information: Jason Shenk. Photography: Verlin Miller. DJ: Caley “DJ Rushmor” Ortman. Location: Fellowship of Hope Mennonite Church, Elkhart, Indiana and Suella Gerber, pastor.

Correction: Nekeisha sincerely apologizes for saying Mimi Salvador Lucero’s name incorrectly in the special thanks during the opening. We also regret neglecting to thank event DJ, Caley “DJ Rushmor” Ortman on the podcast.

Direct download: 005Canvas-StandingRockBenefit.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 3:10pm CDT

On episode 65 of the Iconocast Joanna interviews Father Richard Smith. Father Richard Smith was ordained a Jesuit priest in 1978 and worked for several years in parishes in Washington State. Later, after receiving a Ph.D. in Ethics and Social Theory from the Graduate Theological Union, he taught Religious Studies at various San Francisco Bay Area Universities, before working as a technical writer in Silicon Valley. After his reception as an Episcopal priest in 2000, he served as a Priest Associate at St. John the Evangelist, working heavily for immigration reform in San Francisco's Mission District, a largely Latino community. In 2013, he became Vicar at St. John's and has worked to deepen his congregation's commitment to the larger community. He helped establish Mission Nightwalks, an effort by faith communities to stem both police and gang violence in their neighborhood. His congregation now opens their doors each weekday morning for homeless neighbors to sleep in a safe, dry space. And, with hostility toward immigrants increasing, St. John's has now become a Sanctuary congregation, accompanying and protecting newly arrived undocumented immigrants in San Francisco.

Father Richard lives in San Francisco with his husband Rob and their son David.

Direct download: ep65_Fr._Richard.m4a
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 12:27pm CDT

In episode 64 Joanna interviews Zephyr Elise. Zephyr Elise is mixed indigenous artist, filmmaker, animator, and activist. They graduated from the Evergreen State College in 2012 with a B.A. in film and a specialization in queer and indigenous studies. Born in San Diego, CA they have since lived up and down both coasts, but currently call the #NoDAPL encampment at Standing Rock, ND home. In former incarnations, they have been an organizer with Idle No More- Two Spirits on Ohlone Lands, the executive media assistant for Indian Canyon Nation of Ohlones, and sat on the Two Spirit Council of Indian Canyon. They will be overseeing the Winyan (Lakota: woman) camp, a woman, children, and two spirit safe space in the Oceti Sakowin camp for the winter.

Direct download: i64_Zephyr_Elise.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 1:20pm CDT

In episode four of Iconocast Canvas, Nekeisha and Sarah hang out at Activism Row at Afropunk Festival in Commodore Park, Brooklyn. At the August 2016 "Power to the Party" themed event, they talked with several organizers for Black and other liberation  and anti-oppression struggles. Interviewees include Allen Kwabena Frimpong and Walter Cruz from Black Lives Matter: NYC; Olaronke Akinmowo, founder of the Free Black Women's Library; Taliba Obuya, national coordinator of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement; Emma Chu Murphy, festival-goer and doula with Ancient Song Doula Services and Mia Anderson from the Brooklyn Anti-Gentrification Network. Nekeisha and Sarah open the conversations by reflecting on their experiences at the eclectic gathering dedicated to dynamic and alternative expressions of Black music and culture.

Also mentioned: Every Black Girl and Kleaver Cruz's Black Joy Project.

Music: "Spanish Winter" by The Passion HiFi (Evil Twin Records) https://soundcloud.com/freehiphopbeatsforyou

Direct download: IconocastCanvas-Afropunk2016.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 12:14pm CDT

In episode 63 Joanna interviews Clayborne Carson. 

Clayborne Carson has devoted his professional life to the study of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the movements King inspired. Since receiving his doctorate from UCLA in 1975, Dr. Carson has taught at Stanford University, where he is now professor of history and founding director of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute.

During his undergraduate years at UCLA, Dr. Carson participated in civil rights and antiwar protests, and many of his subsequent writings reflect his experiences by stressing the importance of grassroots political activity within the African-American freedom struggle. Carson's scholarly publications have focused on African-American protest movements and political thought of the period after World War II. His other publications include In Struggle: SNCC and the Black Awakening of the 1960s (1981); Malcolm X: The FBI File (1991); African American Lives: The Struggle for Freedom (2005, co-author); and a memoir, Martin's Dream: My Journey and the Legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. (2013).

Direct download: i63_Clayborn_Carson.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 10:43am CDT

In episode 62 Joanna interviews Chris Carlsson. Chris is a writer, San Francisco historian, bicyclist, tour guide, photographer, and a book and magazine designer. He’s lived in San Francisco since 1978. He’s written two books (After the Deluge and Nowtopia) and edited six books, including: Critical Mass: Bicycling’s Defiant Celebration and Ten Years That Shook the City: San Francisco, 1968-78. He helped co-found Critical Mass in September 1992, and has ridden with Critical Mass rides in a dozen cities on three continents since then. He has directed Shaping San Francisco, a participatory community history project, since its inception in the mid-1990s, and continues to be co-director of the archive of San Francisco history at FoundSF.org. He also conducts award-winning bicycle history tours a dozen times a year, and hosts an ongoing Public Talks series in San Francisco.

Direct download: ChrisCarlsson_ep_62.m4a
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 7:00pm CDT

In episode three of Iconocast Canvas, Nekeisha and Seth interview Roman GianArthur. Roman is a singer, composer, arranger, producer, performer and artist on Wondaland Records. He is consistently broadening the expectations of what a soul singer can do: writing musicals, composing concertos, conducting orchestras, scoring films, picking up new instruments and learning their mysteries at prodigious speed, all while offering heartfelt reflections on the social implications of art and the need for more beauty in the world around us.

Intro and outro credit: 
"Me in Your Life" by The Passion HiFi (Evil Twin Records) https://soundcloud.com/freehiphopbeatsforyou

Direct download: 003Canvas-RomanGianArthur.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 11:41am CDT

In this episode Joanna interviews Sara Miles. Sara is the founder and director of the The Food Pantry and serves as director of ministry at St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church in San Francisco. Her books include City of God: Faith in the Streets, Jesus Freak: Feeding Healing Raising the Dead and Take This Bread: A Radical Conversion. She speaks, preaches and leads workshops around the country, and her writing has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, the New Yorker, and on National Public Radio.


Joanna is joined by fellow interviewer Suella Lehman Gerber. Suella is pastor of Fellowship of Hope Mennonite Church in Elkhart, Ind., and was visiting San Francisco on sabbatical.

Direct download: i_61_sara_miles.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 11:38am CDT

In episode 60 Joanna interviews Ellen Dahlke and Rick Ayers about education and liberation. Ellen is a former high school English teacher and currently coordinates the outside end of a GED program with radical leanings that was founded and is led by incarcerated men for incarcerated men. Rick Ayers is an assistant professor of education at the University of San Francisco in the Urban Education and Social Justice cohort. He is author of A Teacher’s Guide to Studs Terkel’s Working, and the author of An Empty Seat in Class: Teaching and Learning after the Death of a Student. He has also co-authored with his brother Bill Ayers, Teaching the Taboo: Courage and Imagination in the Classroom.

Direct download: i_60_dalkhe-ayers.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 8:46pm CDT

In episode two of Iconocast: Canvas, Nekeisha and Seth interview sculptor, painter and poet Jake Webster. Born and raised in Greenville, Miss. during the 40s, Jake's roots as an artist reach back to his childhood and extend into the present. Jake was a painter for more than a decade before adding direct carving to his skills in 1974. A resident of Elkhart, Ind. for 21 years, he often uses local materials, including wood from fallen logs in the area and excess limestone from quarries. Recycled materials is a core part of his work, with used nails, bones and scrap metal figuring prominently in his sculptures, and articles like paper, rags and plastic wrappers appearing in his paintings. Jake's artistic pursuits have taken him as close to home as South Bend and Indianapolis, Ind. and as far away as Italy, Greece and France. He invites those who view his work to ask themselves two questions: "What in the hell is he doing?" and, "How do I make my life better from this day forward?" You can find out more about Jake and his work at www.artpostblog.com/jakewebster/

Music for Cavnas 002:
​​"FHH 27" by FREE Hip Hop Beats at soundcloud.com/freebeatshiphop/

Direct download: 002Canvas-JakeWebster.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 2:33pm CDT

In this episode Joanna interviews Dalit Baum. Dalit Baum is the director of economic activism for the American Friends Service Committee. Originally from Israel where she co-founded Who Profits from the Occupation, and of the Coalition of Women for Peace, Dalit now resides in the Bay Area. Dalit is a feminist scholar and teacher, who teaches about militarism and about the global economy in Israeli and American universities. She has been active with various groups in the Israeli anti-occupation and democracy movement, including Black Laundry, Boycott from Within, Zochrot, Anarchists against the Wall and Women in Black.

Direct download: i59_dalit_baum.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 11:28am CDT

In episode 01 of The Iconocast Canvas, co-hosts Nekeisha and Seth discuss the origins and goals of the new segment of Jesus Radicals' long-running podcast. Together, they share their perspectives on the interplay of art, faith and politics in resistance and reconstruction; why they think it's important to make space to explore these connections with artists; and what they hope to do with this venture as it moves forward.

Direct download: 001Canvas-SethNekeisha01_1.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 2:32pm CDT

In this episode Joanna interviews Corrina Gould about the canonization of Junípero Serra and the enslavement of Indigenous Peoples in California missions. Corrina is a Chochenyo and Karkin Ohlone woman and an activist in the Bay Area.  She is the mother of three children and currently works as the Title VII Coordinator, Office of Indian Education at the American Indian Child Resource Center. She is also the Co-Founder and a Lead Organizer for Indian People Organizing for Change, a small Native run organization that works on issues affecting Indigenous people and sponsors an annual Shellmound Peace Walk to raise awareness of the desecration of the sacred sites in the greater Bay Area. On September 23, 2015, at the same time Serra was being canonized in Washington DC, Corinna and Joanna participated in a protest at Mission Dolores in San Francisco. Their conversation delves into current indigenous activism and the practices that sustain it.

Direct download: i_58_Corinna_Gould.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 11:55am CDT

In this episode Joanna interviews Kazu Haga. Kazu is the founder and coordinator of the East Point Peace Academy and is a trainer in Kingian Nonviolence. Having received training from elders including Dr. Bernard Lafayette, Rev. James Lawson and Joanna Macy, he teaches nonviolence, conflict reconciliation, organizing and mindfulness in prisons and jails, high schools and youth groups, and with activist communities around the country.


Kazu has been active in various social change movements since 1998, including Occupy Oakland and the Movement for Justice for Oscar Grant. He currently resides in Oakland, CA.

Direct download: i_57_Kazu_Haga.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 11:44am CDT

In this episode Joanna interviews Paul Kivel. Paul is a social justice educator, activist, and writer, and has been an innovative leader in violence prevention for more than 35 years. He is an accomplished trainer and speaker on men’s issues, racism and diversity, and the impact of class and power on daily life, among other things. Paul is the author of numerous books and curricula, including "Uprooting Racism: How White People Can Work for Racial Justice" and "You Call This a Democracy?: Who Benefits, Who Pays, and Who Really Decides." In this interview he discusses his latest book, "Living in the Shadow of the Cross: Understanding and Resisting the Power and Privilege of Christian Hegemony" and invites others to join the conversation.

Direct download: I_56_Paul_Kivel.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 10:37am CDT

In this episode Joanna interviews Rev. Lynice Pinkard and Nichola Torbett. Lynice is a pastor, teacher and healer in Oakland, California. Her work is dedicated to decolonizing the human spirit and to freeing people from "empire affective disorder." Nichola is a contributor to the Jesus Radicals blog and the founding director of Seminary of the Street in Oakland. She is committed to  joining the move of God’s spirit against the physical and spiritual deadliness of American culture under corporate capitalism. Together they discuss the national conversation on race and racism and the roles of people of color and white people in movements for justice.

Direct download: I55_Lynice_Pinkard__Nichola_Torbett.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 1:24pm CDT

In this episode Joanna interviews Joerg Rieger. 

Joerg Rieger is a professor, author and activist. Originally from Germany, his theological work is based on the recognition that more radical and faithful visions of Christianity are needed. Since 1994 he has taught constructive theology at Perkins School of Theology in Dallas, Texas. His books include Occupy Religion: Theology of the Multitude and Religion, Theology and Class: Fresh Engagement After Long Silence. He continues to develop this vision of radical Christianity in close collaboration with colleagues both nationally and internationally and with emerging grassroots movements. In Dallas, he and his spouse Rosemarie are active in the religion and labor movement.

Direct download: Iconocast_Joerg_Reiger.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 12:10pm CDT

In this episode Joanna and Mark interview Bill Ayers. 

Bill Ayers is an author, including the books, Public Enemy: Confessions of an American Dissident;To Teach: The Journey in Comics with Ryan Alexander-Tanner; Race Course: Against White Supremacy, with Bernardine Dohrn. He co-founded the revolutionary group, Weather Underground, in 1969, a radical left-wing organization aimed at supported Black liberation movements and protesting US imperialism through the use of targeted bombing of government and bank property.

Before retiring Bill served as distinguished professor of education and senior university scholar at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He is an education theorist and lives in Hyde Park, Chicago with Bernardine Dohrn. His partner, comrade and soulmate for close to half a century. 
In this episode he discusses his terrorist label, movement building and what it means to live in the present moment, moving away from generational separations and from cynicism to hope.

Direct download: Iconocast_Bill_Ayers.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 8:32pm CDT

In this episode Joanna and Mark interview Micky Jones.

Micky is a perpetual learner, communicator, facilitator, and contemplative activist living just south of Nashville, Tenn. She studies with the co-learning community at NAIITS (North American Institute of Indigenous Theological Studies) through George Fox Evangelical Seminary in Portland, Oregon. Her early career includes the cutthroat world of contemporary Christian music, YMCA administration and community youth services through Rocketown in Nashville. She now engages groups through academic gatherings, conferences, blogs and podcasts on a wide variety of topics. Recently named one of the Black Christian leaders changing the world by the Huffington Post, she also serves on the leadership team of TransFORM Network as the director of training and program development.  Her special interests & scholarship include womanist & practical theology, the intersections of Black and Native American history and theology, the pursuit of shalom, faith-rooted organizing, intersectional justice, community formation and health issues. She believes in revolution love and never passes up a dance floor!

Direct download: Iconocast_Micky_Jones.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 1:34pm CDT

In this episode Joanna interviews Sandhya Rani Jha. They discuss the defining racist narratives of the United States, intersectionality, what it means to be an ally, intergenerational movement-buildling and more. These themes are explored at length in Sandhya's new book, Pre-Post-Racial America: Spiritual Stories from the Front Lines

Sandhya serves as director of the Oakland Peace Center in Oakland, California a collective of 40 organizations creating access, equity and dignity for all in Oakland and the Bay Area. She also serves as Director of Interfaith Programs for East Bay Housing Organizations, where she organizes faith communities to advocate for housing as a human right and spiritual mandate throughout California’s Bay Area. She serves as a consultant with Hope Partnership and an anti-racism/anti-oppression trainer with Reconciliation Ministries for the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). She is a faith-rooted organizer with Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity (formerly Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice – CA) and is particularly proud of her podcast, Hope from the Hood, available on iTunes and at sandhyajha.com

 

Direct download: Iconocast_-_Sandhya_Rani_Jha.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 10:32am CDT

In this episode Joanna and Jason interview Willie Baptist.

 

Willie Baptist is a renowned anti-poverty organizer.  Coming to political awareness in the 1965 Watts uprisings, through the Black student movement, and as a shop steward with the United Steelworkers, Willie has ultimately dedicated 40 years to organizing the poor.  He provided vital leadership to the National Union of the Homeless, as formerly homeless father; the National Welfare Rights Union; the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign; and many other networks. Willie now serves as the Scholar-in-Residence of Poverty Initiative at Union Theological Seminary (New York), which is dedicated to raising up generations of religious and community leaders dedicated to building a social movement to end poverty, led by the poor.  He is also the coordinator of the associated Poverty Scholars Program, a leadership development, technical assistance, and skills training program for grassroots organizers working around issues of economic justice, with the aim of building a national movement to end poverty united across lines of race, religion, geography and issue-focused organizing. Since 2007, the Poverty Scholars Program has focused on reigniting the Poor People’s Campaign and finishing the unfinished business of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  Willie has recently co-authored Pedagogy of the Poor, which draws on lessons from grassroots organizing and social theory for building a movement to end poverty.

Direct download: Iconocast-Willie_Baptist.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 2:03pm CDT

In this episode, Mark talks with Thomas Gokey.

Thomas, a Syracuse University art professor, is a part of Strike Debt. Strike Debt is a nationwide movement of debt resistors fighting for economic justice and democratic freedom. A little over a year ago, Strike Debt announced Rolling Jubilee. Rolling Jubilee is a Strike Debt project that buys debt for pennies on the dollar, but instead of collecting it, abolishes it. They are trying to spark a movement that imagines and creates a new world based on the common good, not Wall Street profits.

Direct download: s3e49-iconocast.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 2:54pm CDT

In this episode, Mark and Nekeisha interview Anthony Nocella.

Anthony J. Nocella II, Ph.D., author, community organizer, and educator is a Visiting Professor in the School of Education at Hamline University and Senior Fellow of the Dispute Resolution Institute at the Hamline Law School. Nocella is a scholar-activist grounded in the field of education and peace and conflict studies. He is internationally known for his innovative, transformative, and intersectional collaborations among fields of study, social movements, scholars, communities, and activists. He has published numerous books and is the co-founder of the Institute for Critical Animal Studies and Save the Kids.

Direct download: s3e48-iconocast.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 2:47pm CDT

In this episode, Joanna and Tim interview Mark Van Steenwyk. Mark Van Steenwyk is the co-founder of the Mennonite Worker in Minneapolis, an organizer at JesusRadicals.com, a producer of the Iconocast podcast, and the author of That Holy Anarchist and the upcoming book, the unKingdom of God: Embracing the Subversive Power of Repentance (which is available for pre-order). This interview is co-sponsored by the Mennonite Church USA and the Christian Peacemaker Teams and is part of the Widening the Circle mini-series. To more deeply engage a commitment to undoing oppression with seasoned justice-seekers, the Iconocast is launching a mini-series, Widening the Circle: Experiments in Christian Discipleship. Editor Joanna Shenk and the co-hosts will interview chapter authors about their continuing journeys of discipleship, asking questions like: How has their thinking deepened around the themes they wrote about? What do they see happening in the discipleship community movement currently? What is taking shape in their community/organization? What have they let go? In the meantime, make sure to check out Widening the Circle, with stories including from Dr. Vincent Harding, Reba Place Fellowship, Christian Peacemaker Teams, Mark Van Steenwyk, Andrea Ferich, Anton Flores and Jesce Walz.

* * * * *

Intro and bumper music for this episode is  All Along the Watchtower as performed by Jimi Hendrix.

Direct download: s3e47-iconocast.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 11:05am CDT

In this interview, Joanna and Jarrod interview Vincent Harding.
 
Vincent Harding is Professor Emeritus of Religion and Social Transformation at the Iliff School of Theology in Denver, Colorado. He is chairperson of the Veterans of Hope Project, which he founded in 1997 with his late wife, Rosemarie Freeney Harding. As longtime activists and teachers, the Hardings began their work in the Mennonite Church in Chicago, Illinois, in the late 1950s and moved to Atlanta, Georgia, in 1961 to join with Martin Luther King Jr. and others in the southern freedom movement. Vincent Harding occasionally drafted speeches for Martin Luther King, including his famous anti-Vietnam speech, "A Time to Break Silence" which King delivered on April 4, 1967 at Riverside Church in New York City, exactly a year before he was assassinated. In ensuing years, the Hardings served as scholars, advisors, and encouragers for a wide variety of movements, organizations, and individuals working for compassionate social change in the United States and internationally. Three of his most recent books are: Hope and History: Why We Must Share the Story of the Movement; Martin Luther King: The Inconvenient Hero; and We Changed the World.

This interview is part of the Widening the Circle mini-series.

To more deeply engage a commitment to undoing oppression with seasoned justice-seekers, the Iconocast is launching a mini-series, Widening the Circle: Experiments in Christian Discipleship. Editor Joanna Shenk and the co-hosts will interview chapter authors about their continuing journeys of discipleship, asking questions like: How has their thinking deepened around the themes they wrote about? What do they see happening in the discipleship community movement currently? What is taking shape in their community/organization? What have they let go? In the meantime, make sure to check out Widening the Circle, with stories including from Dr. Vincent Harding, Reba Place Fellowship, Christian Peacemaker Teams, Mark Van Steenwyk, Andrea Ferich, Anton Flores and Jesce Walz.

Direct download: s3e46-iconocast.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 3:09pm CDT

In this episode, Joanna interviews Mary and Peter Sprunger-Froese. Since 1979, Peter and Mary Sprunger-Froese have been Mennonite peace activists with an ecumenical community in Colorado Springs. They work with homeless people, refugees, and nonviolence seekers. They find the Anabaptist story deeply sustaining in their Christianized military setting.

This is a part of the Widening the Circle mini-series.

To more deeply engage a commitment to undoing oppression with seasoned justice-seekers, the Iconocast is launching a mini-series, Widening the Circle: Experiments in Christian Discipleship. Editor Joanna Shenk and the co-hosts will interview chapter authors about their continuing journeys of discipleship, asking questions like: How has their thinking deepened around the themes they wrote about? What do they see happening in the discipleship community movement currently? What is taking shape in their community/organization? What have they let go? In the meantime, make sure to check out Widening the Circle, with stories including from Dr. Vincent Harding, Reba Place Fellowship, Christian Peacemaker Teams, Mark Van Steenwyk, Andrea Ferich, Anton Flores and Jesce Walz.

Direct download: s3e45-iconocast.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 2:56pm CDT

In this episode, Joanna and Tim interview Noam Chomsky.
 
Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, political critic, and activist. He is an Institute Professor and Professor (Emeritus) in the Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at MIT, where he has worked for over 50 years. In addition to his work in linguistics, he has written on war, politics, and mass media, and is the author of over 100 books.
Direct download: s2e44-iconocast.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 4:46pm CDT

In this episode, Mark interviews Jin Kim.
 
Jin is the founding pastor of Church of All Nations. Born in Korea in 1968, he came to the US with his family at age 7, and grew up in Columbia, SC & Atlanta, GA in multiethnic environments. He holds degrees from Georgia Tech, Princeton Seminary, and a Doctor of Ministry from Columbia Seminary. He serves on Minnesota Council of Churches' board, and formerly served as Presbyterian Church USA delegate to the National Council of Churches, as US delegate to the 3rd Lausanne Congress, as Moderator/Council Chair of Presbytery of Twin Cities Area, and as President of Presbyterians For Renewal. Jin has a passion for the ministry of reconciliation and a vision for the visible unity of the global church. His household includes his wife, Soon Pac, children Claire Nicea and Austin Athanasius, and Jin's parents. He is an avid golfer, enjoys volleyball, basketball, racquetball, table tennis & Monopoly, and will one day pick up ice fishing (?).
Direct download: s3e43_iconocast_jin_kim_3b.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 12:26pm CDT

In this episode, Joanna and Nekeisha interview Ashanti Alston Omowali.

Ashanti is an anarchist activist, speaker, writer, and former member of the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army (BLA) and a former political prisoner. He was also the co-chair of the National Jericho Movement (to free U.S. political prisoners.) Ashanti came of age as the political action of the 1960′s was hitting its peak. He recalls struggling through Malcolm X’s biography as a teen and feeling awestruck at the 1967 rebellions that saw numerous American neighborhoods temporarily taken over by the people who lived there, including his home town of Plainfield, New Jersey. He joined the Black Panther Party while still in high school, starting a chapter in Plainfield, and later going underground with the Black Liberation Army. For a while, he straddled the above ground Panther work of selling newspapers and running breakfast programs with more aggressive underground tactics. In 1974 he was involved in a Connecticut “bank expropriation,” captured and imprisoned for 11 plus years. Today, Ashanti is active in the prison abolition movement (Critical Resistance and the Jericho Movement), in Anarchist People of Color organizing, and in efforts to connect organizers of colour in the north with the Zapatistas (Estacion Libre) in Mexico. He is also a loving father to his son Biko and partner to fellow change agent, Viviane Saleh-Hanna.

Episode produced by Orrin Pratt and Mark Van Steenwyk. Hosted by Joanna Shenk and Nekeisha Alexis-Baker. Intro and bumper music for this episode is De Usuahia a la Quiaca by Gustavo Santaolalla.

Direct download: s2e42_iconocast.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 12:00pm CDT

In this episode, Mark and Sarah interview Shannon T.L. Kearns.

Shannon writes as the anarchist reverend. He is a seminary graduate (M.Div 2009 from Union Theological Seminary in the city of New York) on the ordination path who also happens to be a transsexual man. Many of his theological musings are on the intersection of theology and being trans*. He also writes about Christian anarchism and his dreams for the future.

He is the co-founder and co-director of Camp Osiris, a camp for young adults aged 18-23 to come together and talk about the intersections between their sexualities/gender identities and their various spiritualities. The camp is located in Minnesota and welcomes youth from all over the country.

He is also the founder of House of the Transfiguration, a new church plant in Minneapolis.

He is the winner of the 2008 Queertopia homoletics preaching competition and has preached numerous times in various churches. He has also provided churches and other groups with Transgender 101 workshops and discussions.  The anarchist reverend resides in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Direct download: s2e41-iconocast.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 12:00pm CDT

In this interview, Mark and Sarah interview Richard Beck.

Richard Beck is Professor and Department Chair of Psychology at Abilene Christian University. Richard is married to Jana and they have two sons, Brenden and Aidan. They also have a dog Bandit who keepsRichard company when he works away on his blog Experimental Theology. Richard's area of interest is on the interface of Christian theology and psychology, with a particular focus on how existential issues affect Christian belief and practice. Richard's published research covers topics as diverse as the psychology of profanity to why Christian bookstore art is so bad. He is the author of "Unclean: Meditations on Purity, Hospitality, and Mortality"

Direct download: s2e40-iconocast.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 12:00pm CDT

In this episode, Joanna and Sarah interview Starhawk–one of the most respected voices in modern earth-based spirituality.

Starhawk is also well-known as a global justice activist and organizer, whose work and writings have inspired many to action. She is the author or coauthor of twelve books, including The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess, long considered the essential text for the Neo-Pagan movement, and the now-classic ecotopian novel The Fifth Sacred Thing. Starhawk’s newest book is The Empowerment Manual: A Guide for Collaborative Groups, forthcoming in November 2011, from New Society Publishers.

Direct download: s2e39-iconocast.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 12:00pm CDT

n this episode, Joanna and Mark interview Calenthia Dowdy.

Calenthia Dowdy is a cultural anthropologist who specializes in urban youth culture(s) and Afro-Brazilian life. She teaches youth ministry and cultural anthropology at Eastern University in St. Davids, Pennsylvania. Calenthia was born, raised, and continues to reside in the city of Philadelphia. She’s a Philadelphia Mennonite affiliate and has a keen interest in intentional discipleship community living and various expressions of the emerging church movement. Since 2003, Calenthia has been an antiracism trainer with Damascus Road, an antiracism education and organizing program.

Recently, she contributed a chapter to Widening the Circle: Experiments in Christian Discipleship, where she addresses issues of race in intentional communities.

Direct download: s2e38-iconocast.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 12:00pm CDT

n this episode, Joanna and Mark interview Robert Ellsberg.

Robert Ellsberg is the son of Carol Cummings and the American military analyst and whistleblower, Daniel Ellsberg. At age 19, Robert dropped out of college, intending to spend a few months with the Catholic Worker Movement. He stayed to become the managing editor of The Catholic Worker for two years (1976-8), a job that would introduce him to Dorothy Day and consequently would allow him to work with Day for the last five years of her life. This life-changing experience prompted him to convert to Catholicism.

In 1987 he began work as editor-in-chief of Orbis Books. He in theauthor of several books, including All Saints: Daily Reflections on Saints, Prophets, and Witness for Our Time, and the Saints’ Guide to Happiness. His book Blessed Among All Women tied a Catholic Press Association record by winning awards for Gender, Spirituality, and Popular Presentation of the Catholic Faith. He is the editor of the published diaries and letters of Dorothy Day. He currently resides in Ossining, New York with his wife and their three children.

Direct download: s2e37-iconocast.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 12:00pm CDT

n this episode, Mark (with an impromptu question from Orrin) interviews Dr. Bruce Levine.

Dr. Levine writes and speaks widely on how society, culture, politics and psychology intersect. His latest book is Get Up, Stand Up: Uniting Populists, Energizing the Defeated, and Battling the Corporate Elite  A practicing clinical psychologist often at odds with the mainstream of his profession, he is a regular contributor to the Huffington PostCounterPunchAlterNet, and Z Magazine. His articles and interviews have been published in AdbustersTruthoutThe EcologistHigh Times, and numerous other magazines.

Direct download: s2e36-iconocast.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 12:00pm CDT

This is the second of a two part interview with Bob Ekblad. For part one, go here.

Bob Ekblad is executive director of Tierra Nueva and The People’s Seminary in Burlington, Washington. Tierra Nueva is an ecumenical ministry located in Burlington, Washington, that seeks to share the Good News of God’s liberation in Jesus Christ with migrant farmworkers, jail inmates, and Skagit Valley gang members. A minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA), Bob holds a ThD in Old Testament and is known internationally for his courses and workshops on reading the Bible.  Bob and his wife Gracie minister at Tierra Nueva and at their home-based retreat center New Earth Refuge. Bob is the author of Reading the Bible with the Damned and A New Christian Manifesto: Pledging Allegiance to the Kingdom of God.

Direct download: s2e35-iconocast.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 12:00pm CDT

In this episode Jarrod and Mark interview Bob Ekblad.

Bob Ekblad is executive director of Tierra Nueva and The People’s Seminary in Burlington, Washington. Tierra Nueva is an ecumenical ministry located in Burlington, Washington, that seeks to share the Good News of God’s liberation in Jesus Christ with migrant farmworkers, jail inmates, and Skagit Valley gang members. A minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA), Bob holds a ThD in Old Testament and is known internationally for his courses and workshops on reading the Bible.  Bob and his wife Gracie minister at Tierra Nueva and at their home-based retreat center New Earth Refuge. Bob is the author ofReading the Bible with the Damned and A New Christian Manifesto: Pledging Allegiance to the Kingdom of God. This is the first of a two part interview.

Direct download: s2e34-iconocast.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 12:00pm CDT

In this episode Caleb and Joanna interview Alexia Salvatierra. Rev. Salvatierra is the founding director of FaithRooted.org and served as the executive director of C.L.U.E. (clergy and laity united for economic justice), an organization of religious leaders in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Orange County, and San Diego. C.L.U.E. supports low-wage workers in their struggle for a living wage, health insurance, fair working conditions and a voice in the decisions that effect them. C.L.U.E. is one of the coordinating agencies of the national New Sanctuary Movement, in which congregations accompany and support immigrant workers and their families facing deportation.

Direct download: s2e33-iconocast.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 12:00pm CDT

n this episode, Sarah and Joanna talk to thinker and activist Seth Donavan. Seth blogs at confessingqueer.com. Seth’s work in her community focuses on what it means to create new ways of being while honoring the wisdom of our history & stories.

Direct download: s2e32-iconocast.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 12:00pm CDT

In this episode, Mark sits down with Nekeisha and Andy Alexis-Baker to discuss the recent decision by Goshen College to discontinue its playing of the National Anthem at sporting events. Since its founding in 1894, Goshen has refrained from playing the anthem at events…until Spring 2010, when it started playing an instrumental version. Due, in part, to acampaign started by Andy and Nekeisha, Goshen decided to reverse its decision in a June 2011 meeting and will, therefore, no longer play the anthem. But this decision–to reverse their earlier decision–has resulted in a backlash–including a deluge of hate mail and some unwelcomed coverage from Fox News.

Direct download: s2e31-iconocast.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 12:00pm CDT

In this episode, Mark and Nekeisha interview James Cone, who is considered by many to be the father of black liberation theology. Professor James H. Cone is the Charles A. Briggs Distinguished Professor of Systematic Theology at Union Theological Seminary. Dr. Cone is an ordained minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. He is the author of a number of books (including Black Theology and Black PowerGod of the Oppressed, and Martin and Malcom and America). Dr. Cone has lectured at more than 1,000 universities and community organizations throughout the United States, Europe, Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean.

Direct download: s2e30-iconocast.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 12:00pm CDT

In this episode, Joanna and Mark interview Joyce Hollyday.

Joyce is a co-founder and co-pastor of Circle of Mercy, an ecumenical congregation in Asheville, North Carolina as well as a founder of Word and World–an experiment in alternative theological education bridging the gulf between the seminary, the sanctuary, and the street. She served for fifteen years as the Associate Editor of Sojourners magazine and is the author of several books, including Clothed with the Sun: Biblical Women, Social Justice, and Us and Then Shall Your Light Rise: Spiritual Formation and Social Witness.

Direct download: s2e29-iconocast.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 12:00pm CDT

In this episode, Joanna and Mark interview Jonathan Moyer, co-founder of the Groupee.

The Groupee system is an alternative medium of exchange created by a community of Mennonites in Denver, Colorado for the broader church. The Groupee is a wooden token that is exchangeable for the time, labor and materials of other members of the community to facilitate mutual support. The Groupee system creates space for members of the Groupee Community to ask for and receive help. It embeds a piece of community productivity in an alternative to standard society and state-based mediums of exchange that have roots in violence and often promote the misappropriation of surplus value. The Groupee is rooted in an Anabaptist understanding of stewardship, community, social-justice and peacemaking.

Jonathan Moyer is a dissertation level PhD candidate at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver. His research focus is on the future of interstate relations, and emphasizes both domestic and dyadic conflict. His dissertation explores future trends and pressures on international conflict (global power transition, climate change, demographic shifts, state failure and peak oil). Jonathan also retains an interest in event data models of instability, and co-created the news aggregating site BuzzChurn.com

If you’d like to explore starting something like the Groupee in your community, you can contact Jonathan at jonathanmoyer [at] gmail.com

For more information about the Groupee, visit theGroupee.com or check them out on Facebook.

Direct download: s2e28-iconocast.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 12:00pm CDT

In this episode, Mark talks with Teka Childress and Carolyn Griffeth.

Teka has been a member of the Karen House Catholic Worker community for over thirty years. Carolyn Griffeth (with her husband Tery) are the founders of Carl Kabat House Catholic Worker community. Both houses are part of the vibrant catholic worker expression in St. Louis, creating a new society in the shell of the old. Listen in as they talk about community life, the challenges of founding communities, and the changing shape of the Catholic Worker movement.

Direct download: s2e27-iconocast.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 12:00pm CDT

In this episode, Mark and Joanna interview Eda Uca. Eda is director of Hosanna! People’s Seminary. A first generation American of Turkish and Arab descent, she has participated in intentional communities and movements of the Catholic Left/anti-war variety. Eda is currently editing an anthology of Catholic Worker writing for Rose Hill Books. Her great theological passions are in the realm of anti-racism/anti-oppression work as it relates to what she calls “mission in the round”. She currently lives in New York.

Direct download: s2e26-iconocast.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 12:00pm CDT

This is the Iconocast, episode 25, March 3rd, 2011 “Murphy and Ed on the Road, part 2.”

This is the second of a two part interivew with Murphy Davis and Ed Loring. In part two, Joanna and Mark interview Eduard Loring. Ed, along with his wife Murphy Davis, have protested the death penalty, worked for housing the homeless, spoken out against racial injustice, sought justice for the poor, and fought against war. They are founding partners of the Open Door Community–a diverse residential Christian community in downtown Atlanta. For over 30 years, they have lived in community with the homeless poor, former prisoners, and others who have come to join the struggle for justice in the midst of a death-dealing culture.

Direct download: s1e25-Iconocast.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 12:00pm CDT

This is the Iconocast, episode 24: “Murphy and Ed on the Road, part 1.”

This is the first of a two part interivew with Murphy Davis and Ed Loring. In part one, Joanna and Mark interview Murphy Davis. Murphy Davis, with her husband, Ed Loring, have protested the death penalty, worked for housing the homeless, spoken out against racial injustice, sought justice for the poor, and fought against war. Davis and Loring are founding partners of the Open Door Community–a diverse residential Christian community in downtown Atlanta. For over 30 years, they have lived in community with the homeless poor, former prisoners, and others who have come to join the struggle for justice in the midst of a death-dealing culture.

Direct download: s1e24-Iconocast.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 12:00pm CDT

In this episode, Sarah and Mark interview Ragan Sutterfield.

Ragan is a writer, teacher, and farmer in Little Rock, Arkansas. He has written on food, the environment, and culture for a variety of publications including PlentyGourmet,Men’s JournalPasteBooks & CultureFast Company, and Spin. He is also the author of Farming as a Spiritual Discipline. Ragan has eight years of sustainable farming experience and is one of the founders and operators of a farm at Felder Academy, a public charter school for troubled 

Direct download: s1e23-Iconocast.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 12:00pm CDT

In this episode, Joanna and Mark have a conversation about power, leadership, and decision-making in communities.

Direct download: s1e22-Iconocast.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 12:00pm CDT

In this episode, co-hosts Joanna and Mark interview Father Richard Rohr. Listen in as they talk about the Enneagram, the relationship between spirituality and activism, the relationship between movements and institutions, and more.

Father Rohr is a Franciscan priest. He founded the New Jerusalem Community in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1971, and the Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1986, where he presently serves as Founding Director.

Through writing and speaking, Father Rohr explores issues such as Scripture as liberation, the integration of action and contemplation, community building, peace and social justice issues, male spirituality, the  Enneagram, and eco-spirituality.

Direct download: s1e21-Iconocast.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 12:00pm CDT

In this interview, Jarrod and Mark interview Father John Dear. Dear is a Jesuit priest, peace activist, lecturer, and writer of twenty books on nonviolence.

He has been arrested many times in the course of his activist career. His longest period of incarceration lasted eight months, plus nine months of house arrest, following his participation in a Plowshares Movement disarmament action.

Father John Dear received the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award in September 2009 for his solidarity and leadership in nonviolent resistance, vegetarian life style and Gospel living. He was chosen for the 2010 Pacem in Terris Peace and Freedom Award. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize by Desmond Tutu.

Direct download: s1e20-Iconocast.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 12:00pm CDT

In this interview, Joanna and Jason interview Anton Flores.

Anton Flores is one of the founders of the Alterna Community. Alterna is a Christian missional community comprised of U.S. citizens and Latin American immigrants devoted to the ancient practices of accompaniment, advocacy and hospitality.

Find out more at www.alternacommunity.com.

Direct download: s1e19-Iconocast.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 12:00pm CDT

In this episode, co-hosts Mark and Sarah interview Becky Garrison. Becky is a religious satirist and freelance writer. She is author ofJesus Died for This?: A Satirist Searches for the Risen ChristThe New Atheist Crusaders and Their Unholy GrailRising from the Ashes: Rethinking Church, and Red and Blue God, Black and Blue Church. She is a regularly contributes to SojournersKilling the BuddhaReligion Dispatches, and Geez magazine.

Direct download: s1e18-Iconocast.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 12:00pm CDT

In this episode, co-hosts Mark and Jarrod interview Stanley Hauerwas. Dr. Hauerwas is a Christian theologian and ethicist. He has taught at the University of Notre Dame and is currently the Gilbert T. Rowe Professor of Theological Ethics at Duke Divinity School with a joint appointment at the Duke University School of Law.

Among his many books are Resident AliensLiving Gently in a Violent WorldThe Peaceable Kingdom, and Hannah’s Child: A Theologian’s Memoir.

Direct download: s1e17-Iconocast.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 12:00pm CDT

In this episode, co-hosts Joanna and Jarrod interview Rita Nakashima Brock. Dr. Brock is Founding Co-Director of Faith Voices for the Common Good, an organization dedicated to educating the public about the values and concerns of religious leaders and organizations. She also works with The New Press in New York as Senior Editor in Religion.

She is the author or co-author of a number of books including: Journeys By Heart: A Christology of Erotic PowerProverbs of Ashes: Violence, Redemptive Suffering, & the Search for What Saves Us, and, most recently, Saving Paradise: How Christianity Traded Love of This World for Crucifixion and Empire.

Direct download: s1e16-Iconocast.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 12:00pm CDT

In this episode, co-hosts Eliacin and Mark speak with one of America’s most celebrated and controversial public intellectuals: Dr. Cornel West.

Dr. West is an African American philosopher, theologian, author, critic, actor, and civil rights activist. West currently serves as the Class of 1943 University Professor at Princeton University, where he teaches in the Center for African American Studies and in the department of Religion. He is the author of a number of books including: Prophesy Deliverance! An Africo-American Revolutionary ChristianityRace MattersThe Future of RaceDemocracy Matters, and Hope on a Tightrope.

In the interview, we talk to Dr. West about being disinvited as a keynote to the CCDA conference, his relationship with Barack Obama, the rarity of social movements, the power of love, the difference between charity and justice, and much, much more.

Special thanks to Jarrod McKenna…who stayed up all night in Perth, Australia to be a part of this interview but (due to upsetting technical difficulties with Skype) was unable to participate (listen to the end of the podcast–at around 56:45) to find out more…

Direct download: s1e15-Iconocast.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 12:00pm CDT

In this episode, co-hosts Joanna and Mark talk to Onleilove Alston, a native Brooklynite and student at Union Theological Seminary and Columbia University School of Social Work. Onleilove has worked with and studied emerging intentional communities and brings some helpful insights to potential blindspots folks in such communities have about race. She is a regular contributor for Sojourner’s Magazine.

Direct download: s1e14-Iconocast.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 12:00pm CDT

In this episode, co-hosts Joanna and Jarrod interview Carol Rose, Co-Director of the Christian Peacemaker Teams. Christian Peacemaker Teams is a living answer to the question, “what would happen if Christians devoted the same discipline and self-sacrifice to nonviolent peacemaking that armies devote to war?” Carol has served with CPT in Colombia, Iraq, Palestine, Arizona and Kenora. She has been an active peacemaker since the late 1970′s.

Direct download: s1e13-Iconocast.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 12:00pm CDT

In this episode, Mark sits down with Seth Martin and the Menders for a few songs, a few laughs, and a conversation about folk music, prophets, and revolution.

Seth is a folk singer who brings together the deep spirit of American folk, anarchist thought (in the vein of Ammon Hennacy), a love for creation, and Quaker spirituality. He has travelled all over the country (when his car is working) to share his music (often on the fringe). He’s also spent time in Palestine with the Christian Peacemaker Teams. When he isn’t on the road, he lives in the Portland area.

Direct download: s1e12-Iconocast.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 12:00pm CDT

In this episode, co-hosts Joanna, Mark, and Sarah discuss gender, sexism, and community. For most of its history, the church has NOT been a safe place for women to develop as whole and healthy people. As a result, men also struggle to know what it means to be healthy males.

The conversation explores:
The way women and men both lose out in a sexist society.
The importance of community in finding a better way to think about gender.
The fact that “Rocky 3″ is, perhaps, the most “manly” movie ever made.
Sexism in film.
Cookies.
And much, much, more.

Direct download: s1e11-Iconocast.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 12:00pm CDT

In this episode, co-hosts Joanna and Mark interview Richard Horsley.

Richard Horsley is Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts and the Study of Religion at the University of Massachusetts. He is a prolific author with twenty New Testament studies to his credit. He has edited or authored such words as In the Shadow of Empire: Reclaiming the Bible as a History of Faithful ResistanceJesus and Empire: The Kingdom of God and the New World Disorder, and most recently, Covenant Economics: A Biblical Vision of Justice for All.

Advanced apologies to Canada (listen through to the post-interview “banter” at the end to find out why an apology is necessary).

Direct download: s1e10-Iconocast.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 12:00pm CDT

In this episode, co-hosts Sarah, Mark, and Jarrod interview Brian McLaren. Listen in as they explore the nonviolence of God, the state of the world, and our relationship to Empire.

Brian is an internationally known (and controversial) evangelical pastor, speaker, and activist. He is the author of numerous books, including his latest book, “a new kind of Christianity.”

For more information about Brian, visit www.brianmclaren.net/archives/about-brian/

Direct download: s1e9-Iconocast.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 12:00pm CDT

In this episode, co-hosts Joanna and Mark interview Wes Howard-Brook.

Their conversation covers, among other things: the “argument” within Scripture between advocates of the “religion of Empire” and the “religion of Creation,” the ethic of love (rather than nonviolence in the New Testament) and the anarchic impulses within Scripture.

Wes is adult educator, writer, and co-founder of Abide in Me Ministries. His book  ‘Come Out, My People!’: God’s Call Out of Empire in the Bible and Beyond, is now scheduled for Fall 2010 for publication by Orbis Books. His other books includeJohn’s Gospel and the Renewal of the Church, Becoming Children of GodThe Church Before Christianity, and Unveiling Empire: Reading Revelation Then and Now (co-written by Anthony Gwyther).

Direct download: s1e8-Iconocast.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 12:00pm CDT

In this episode, co-hosts Joanna and Mark interview Mary Jo Leddy–Canadian writer, speaker, theologian and social activist. Leddy works alongside refugees at Romero House in Toronto.

She is the author of such books as Say to the Darkness We Beg to DifferReweaving Religious Life: Beyond the Liberal ModelAt the Border Called Hope: Where Refugees are Neighbors andRadical Gratitude.

Direct download: s1e7-Iconocast.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 12:00pm CDT

Recently, Mark spent time in Birmingham Alabama, where he sat down with Jim Douglass, an activist, and noted author on nonviolence and Christian theology.

He and his wife, Shelley Douglass, founded the Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action in Poulsbo, Washington, and Mary’s House, a Catholic Worker house in Birmingham, Alabama. In 1997 the Douglasses received the Pacem in Terris Award.

Douglass’ latest book, JFK and the Unspeakable, explores how JFK was martyred as a peacemaker by forces within the Government. He is also the author of such books asThe Non-Violent Cross and The Non-Violent Coming of God.

Direct download: s1e6-Iconocast.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 12:00pm CDT

Recently, Mark spent time in Birmingham Alabama, where he sat down with Jim Douglass, an activist, and noted author on nonviolence and Christian theology.

He and his wife, Shelley Douglass, founded the Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action in Poulsbo, Washington, and Mary’s House, a Catholic Worker house in Birmingham, Alabama. In 1997 the Douglasses received the Pacem in Terris Award.

Douglass’ latest book, JFK and the Unspeakable, explores how JFK was martyred as a peacemaker by forces within the Government. He is also the author of such books asThe Non-Violent Cross and The Non-Violent Coming of God.

Direct download: s1e5-Iconocast.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 12:00pm CDT

In this episode, we (Sarah Lynne Anderson and Mark Van Steenwyk) continue our interview Dakota scholar Waziyatawin. Be sure to check outpart one. In this part of the interview, we continue to grapple with how Christianity needs to come to terms with its imperial history. We need to repent with more than just words. Our ecclesial bodies (especially denominations with land holdings) may want to ask themselves “what does justice look like?”

We know that, until this podcast, most of you have never heard of Waziyatawin…but this interview raises more questions (in a starkly eloquent way) than any interview with a high-profile Christian provocateur. Please take the time to listen–we promise that it will mess with your head in amazing ways.

You might be interested in a series that has developed as a response to the challenges Waz issues to Christians in the interview: Christianity is Empire. That series will engage the imperial nature of historic Christianity and seek, we hope, to offer a chastened, faithful, alternative.

Waziyatawin is a Wahpetunwan Dakota from the Pezihutazizi Otunwe (Yellow Medicine Village) in southwestern Minnesota.

Waz currently holds the Indigenous Peoples Research Chair in the Indigenous Governance Program at the University of Victoria (British Columbia). Her interests include projects centering on Indigenous decolonization strategies such as truth-telling and reparative justice, Indigenous women and resistance, the recovery of Indigenous knowledge, and the development of liberation ideology in Indigenous communities.

She is the author or editor of: Remember This!: Dakota Decolonization and the Eli Taylor NarrativesIndigenizing the Academy: Transforming Scholarship and Empowering Communities, For Indigenous Eyes Only: A Decolonization Handbook,In the Footsteps of Our Ancestors: The Dakota Commemorative Marches of the 21st Century, and What Does Justice Look Like? The Struggle for Liberation in Dakota Homeland.

Direct download: s1e4-Iconocast.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 12:00pm CDT

In this episode, we (Sarah Lynne Anderson and Mark Van Steenwyk) interview Dakota scholar Waziyatawin. This is the first of a two part interview. For part two, go here.

This is an intensely challenging two part interview (part two will air in two weeks); we discuss how Christianity is intrinsically unjust, how justice requires the entire dismantling of civilization, and how denominations, if they are sincere in their apologies to Indigenous peoples, should take the first step of handing over unused lands to the tribe upon whose land they occupy. You’ll definitely want to forward that to your denominational headquarters. 

Waziyatawin is a Wahpetunwan Dakota from the Pezihutazizi Otunwe (Yellow Medicine Village) in southwestern Minnesota.

Waz currently holds the Indigenous Peoples Research Chair in the Indigenous Governance Program at the University of Victoria (British Columbia). Her interests include projects centering on Indigenous decolonization strategies such as truth-telling and reparative justice, Indigenous women and resistance, the recovery of Indigenous knowledge, and the development of liberation ideology in Indigenous communities.

She is the author or editor of: Remember This!: Dakota Decolonization and the Eli Taylor NarrativesIndigenizing the Academy: Transforming Scholarship and Empowering Communities, For Indigenous Eyes Only: A Decolonization Handbook,In the Footsteps of Our Ancestors: The Dakota Commemorative Marches of the 21st Century, and What Does Justice Look Like? The Struggle for Liberation in Dakota Homeland.

Direct download: s1e3-Iconocast.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 12:00pm CDT

In this episode, co-hosts Sarah Lynne Anderson and Eliacin Rosario-Cruz interview Ched Myers, activist, educator, and the author of a number of books–inclucing “Binding the Strongman”.

Ched, a fifth generation Californian, lives in a small intentional community in Oak View, CA, an hour and a half north of Los Angeles. Over the past three decades he has worked with many peace and justice organizations and movements, including the American Friends Service Committee, the Pacific Concerns Resource Center and the Pacific Life Community. Today withBartimaeus Cooperative Ministries he focuses on building capacity for biblical literacy, church renewal and faith-based witness for justice.

Direct download: s1e2-Iconocast.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 12:00pm CDT

In this episode, co-hosts Joanna Shenk and Mark Van Steenwyk interview Nekeisha Alexis-Baker (founder of JesusRadicals.com, activist, organizer, and thinker). Note: this interview was recorded months before the Iconocast became a part of JesusRadicals.com.

Direct download: s1e1-Iconocast.mp3
Category:Iconocast -- posted at: 12:00pm CDT

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